By Ahmed al-Jarallah
This commentary was published in The Arab Times on 23/04/2011
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in his last speech, didn’t mention the fact that the culture of fundamentalism which is tearing the Arab society apart, especially in the Gulf region, wasn’t in existence before Iran started trying to export its Islamic revolution, which brought the Mullah regime to power in 1979 after the ousting of the Shah. Iran is responsible for the incitement of the Sunni- Shiite faceoff which President Ahmadinejad is warning of. Even if we agree with the Head of the Shura Council Ali Larijani who said ‘the arrogant world (the demons) is pushing towards this direction,’ isn’t it the duty of the country that prides itself as the first defender of Islam, Muslims and the weak people to confront the arrogant world and the demons and foil their conspiracies? Can’t the Iranian government give its Sunnis and Ahwazi Arabs their full rights or at least the right to build mosques and pray in whichever way they want? And why can’t Iran stop the sectarian speeches which provoke its neighbors against it?
Ahmadinejad, Larijani and the mullah’s regime cannot be allowed to make the region a hostage to the Persian expansionist agenda under any disguise. Iran’s attempts to export its revolution failed miserably because the Arab Shiites, who are aware of the intentions of Iran, were the first to oppose them. Starting from the attempt to slander and defame the path of Ahl Al-Bait to the constant attempts to make Qom the headquarters of Shiites while denying Najaf its historic role of the past 1,300 years, Arab Shiites will continue to resist Tehran’s agenda and they will never choose the Iranian model because they all live as free citizens in their societies, while the Iranian people are governed with an iron fist. No one will aspire to join such a hopeless nation, except a few who suffer from injustice and difficulties.
Ahmadinejad and his regime have forgotten that there are Shiite ministers, lawmakers, ambassadors and top officials in all GCC countries. These countries didn’t look at the candidates’ sectarian affiliation, but only at their competence. Shiites in all these countries enjoy full rights, while Iranian thinker Jalaluddin Al-Farsi wasn’t even allowed to contest for presidency because of his Arab origins. In fact, no Sunni person has ever headed a ministry or held a first grade portfolio in the Iranian regime for the past three decades. Can Ahmadinejad and his regime deny the fact that there are great thinkers and competent Sunnis in Iran? And where is Islamic justice in all this?
Ahmadinejad should realize by now that Arab Shiites will never allow themselves to be used as tools by Tehran in its expansionist agenda. He shouldn’t depend on the domination of gun-wielding Hezbollah in Lebanon and on Iraqi groups who depend on his Revolutionary Guard because all these things will not prevent the fall of his regime and its agendas. And surely, the level of Iranian interference in internal affairs of Arab nations will be exposed.
Therefore, the warnings of Ahmadinejad on an Arab-Iran war can only mean that Tehran is using the race card to threaten Arabs with war, and here we ask who is supposed to warn who? Should the Arab Gulf, which Iran covered with spy networks, terrorist elements and media propagandists, issue the threat or Iran that militarizes everything, including water and air?
This commentary was published in The Arab Times on 23/04/2011
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in his last speech, didn’t mention the fact that the culture of fundamentalism which is tearing the Arab society apart, especially in the Gulf region, wasn’t in existence before Iran started trying to export its Islamic revolution, which brought the Mullah regime to power in 1979 after the ousting of the Shah. Iran is responsible for the incitement of the Sunni- Shiite faceoff which President Ahmadinejad is warning of. Even if we agree with the Head of the Shura Council Ali Larijani who said ‘the arrogant world (the demons) is pushing towards this direction,’ isn’t it the duty of the country that prides itself as the first defender of Islam, Muslims and the weak people to confront the arrogant world and the demons and foil their conspiracies? Can’t the Iranian government give its Sunnis and Ahwazi Arabs their full rights or at least the right to build mosques and pray in whichever way they want? And why can’t Iran stop the sectarian speeches which provoke its neighbors against it?
Ahmadinejad, Larijani and the mullah’s regime cannot be allowed to make the region a hostage to the Persian expansionist agenda under any disguise. Iran’s attempts to export its revolution failed miserably because the Arab Shiites, who are aware of the intentions of Iran, were the first to oppose them. Starting from the attempt to slander and defame the path of Ahl Al-Bait to the constant attempts to make Qom the headquarters of Shiites while denying Najaf its historic role of the past 1,300 years, Arab Shiites will continue to resist Tehran’s agenda and they will never choose the Iranian model because they all live as free citizens in their societies, while the Iranian people are governed with an iron fist. No one will aspire to join such a hopeless nation, except a few who suffer from injustice and difficulties.
Ahmadinejad and his regime have forgotten that there are Shiite ministers, lawmakers, ambassadors and top officials in all GCC countries. These countries didn’t look at the candidates’ sectarian affiliation, but only at their competence. Shiites in all these countries enjoy full rights, while Iranian thinker Jalaluddin Al-Farsi wasn’t even allowed to contest for presidency because of his Arab origins. In fact, no Sunni person has ever headed a ministry or held a first grade portfolio in the Iranian regime for the past three decades. Can Ahmadinejad and his regime deny the fact that there are great thinkers and competent Sunnis in Iran? And where is Islamic justice in all this?
Ahmadinejad should realize by now that Arab Shiites will never allow themselves to be used as tools by Tehran in its expansionist agenda. He shouldn’t depend on the domination of gun-wielding Hezbollah in Lebanon and on Iraqi groups who depend on his Revolutionary Guard because all these things will not prevent the fall of his regime and its agendas. And surely, the level of Iranian interference in internal affairs of Arab nations will be exposed.
Therefore, the warnings of Ahmadinejad on an Arab-Iran war can only mean that Tehran is using the race card to threaten Arabs with war, and here we ask who is supposed to warn who? Should the Arab Gulf, which Iran covered with spy networks, terrorist elements and media propagandists, issue the threat or Iran that militarizes everything, including water and air?
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